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Kian Alvane
One of the protagonists of Dreamfall, Kian Alvane is an Azadi Apostle, a soldier and assassin. He is sent to Marcuria by the Six to find and kill the Rebel leader known as the Scorpion. In his travels, he sees another side of his people and begins to question his beliefs, thinking that what he once believed to be pure faith now more closely resembles blindness. Kian is an orphan, a 'motherless boy' who grew into a quiet but intense man, with a very strong devotion to the Goddess - his faith is so strong that even his pious instructor warns him to be more discerning. As an Azadi man, he was raised to see women as the dominant gender and is extremely polite to them, addressing every woman he meets as 'Mistress'. He is an accomplished swordsman, trained by Garmon Koumas who recognised talent in the young boy, and is now an Apostle: one who converts with the sword rather than the word. At some point in the past he appears to have served with the now Commander Vamon, and since then the two have borne thinly-veiled animosity for each other. Vamon claims it is because Kian has advanced too far beyond the station of a low-born orphan; his comments suggest that Kian may have friends in high places. When he arrived in Marcuria during his hunt for the Scorpion, Kian met the Azadi Emissary and received further briefing on his mission. Commander Vamon arrived soon afterwards and was asked by the Azadi Emissary to follow Kian, and ensure the Apostle's edge was not blunted by the eastern pagans.Kian began tracking the Scorpion down, but increasingly found his head turned by the Marcurians. Faced with the reality of the Magic Ghetto, the attitude of his fellow soldiers and the dissatisfaction of the citizenry, he began to ponder the true reason the Goddess might have had in sending him to Marcuria. During his investigation, a Young woman appeared out of nowhere in the Marcuria marketplace. She was promptly arrested by the Azadi as a witch and hauled off to Friars keep. Kian went to the prison to interrogate her, but decided she was harmless and argued for her release, although Warden Murron insisted he must observe protocol and send her to Sadir for trial. Kian headed back to the city, but met a woman on her way to the Keep to whom he felt inexplicably drawn. Believing they had met before, he spoke to her but soon realised his mistake. Nevertheless, he decided to ask her why the Marcurians seemed so dissatisfied with the Azadi after everything the Empire had done, including ridding Marcuria of the Tyren. Unfortunately, the woman happened to be April Ryan, and she gave him a piece of her mind. They went their separate ways without Kian realising he had just spoken to a senior member of the Rebels. After killing two rebels and interrogating a Zhid at swordpoint, Kian finally got a lead on the Scorpion that took him to the Journeyman Inn. With a gang of soldiers, he raided the Journeyman and arrested Benrime SalminBenrime Salmin as a rebel sympathiser. He also found Naane in one of the upstairs rooms. He threatened her and demanded that she take him to the Scorpion, telling her the ship smuggling supplies to the Swamp City would be boarded, its crew weighted and thrown into the ocean. Na'ane pleaded for the life of the crew, and agreed to give him the Scorpion in return. Kian stowed away on a ship and arrived in the Rebel City, where Na'ane told him to meet the Scorpion on one of the piers. However, when he arrived, he found April Ryan waiting for him. Surprised to encounter the woman who had made such an impassioned speech, Kian insisted that his time in Marcuria had changed many of his ideas. He believed that the Goddess had led him to April to show him the truth. However, April wasn't convinced and saw him as an Azadi infiltrator. They might still have come to an understanding, but Kian had been followed to the swamplands and a squadron of Azadi soldiers, led by Commander Vamon, began a raid on the Rebel City with Cloudships. Thinking his fears had been confirmed and that Kian - dressed as a rebel to blend in - had defected, Vamon ordered Kian to kill the Scorpion... the name the Azadi had given to April after she first began fighting them. Unable to bring himself to kill her, Kian hesitated. One of Vamon's soldiers stabbed April in the stomach with a halberd. As she fell from the pier, Vamon arrested Kian and hauled him away. His fate after his arrest is unknown. He will presumably now be tried, possibly as a heretic if not a traitor. Trivia Kian' is related to the words 'generations' or 'king'; or to the Gaelic 'cian', meaning 'ancient'. Kian's surname has raised questions about what his future role may be, especially as far as April is concerned. With Lady Alvane frequently identified as being an older April, many have speculated about a future relationship or family connections, assuming she survived. However, there are any number of events that could result in April having the same surname - if indeed Lady Alvane is April, which Ragnar Tourqist refuses to confirm. Though Kian seems to recognise April in Marcuria, how is not currently explained. Kian had not left the Azadi Empire before his mission to Marcuria, and as seen in The Longest Journey, April never travelled that far west.